Welcoming the feelings of the teen

Recently, Oscar (13 years old) wanted to participate in a drawing competition about a cover page for « Romeo and Juliet ». He spoke about it for a while, sharing his ideas, and he was rather excited. And then one day, he finally began to draw. Only he had to turn it in an hour later…

I walked into his room just when he was finishing.
He was not happy with it: « It sucks, huh? »
Of course, now I know it doesn’t help to answer no! I only go with a:
« You think it’s bad? »
-Well yes, look, these colours, this isn’t what I wanted… I shouldn’t have used markers…
-Yes, but… »
Oops, I almost got too far! Fortunately, just in time, I remember the example of the book How to talk so teens will listen… and in particular the example so close that I had read! I stop.
He goes on: « But I should have begun before so I would have time to do it again. True. »
Here we are, they really are able to learn by themselves! We don’t need to always lecture them!